China stunned the aerospace world on 26 December 20224 when footage appeared on social media of a new sixth-generation fighter conducting a daytime test flight that bears little resemblance to anything that has come before it.
Featuring a tailless, modified delta-wing design, the new aircraft is around 21 m long – with its delta wing form thus making it appear as a substantially sized aircraft in flight – and is propelled by three powerplants.
The aircraft’s daytime test flight – which was no doubt meant to be seen (26 December is the birthdate of Mao Zedong: the founder of the People’s Republic of China) – saw it accompanied by a Chengdu J-20S fifth-generation fighter. The Chengdu Aircraft Corporation has apparently referred to the new aircraft as the J-36.
While the new aircraft’s sheer size and lack of a tailplane mean that it is unlikely to be particularly manoeuvrable, features such as the absence of a tailplane and the fact that the powerplant exhaust outlets are mounted on the upper side of the rear fuselage show that significant design considerations in relation to stealth have been made. The aircraft’s size also suggests substantial capabilities in relation to its weapons payload and fuel capacity/range, while the three engines could indicate high-altitude operations were a major design driver.
Other features initially noted on the aircraft by analysts include five trailing-edge control surfaces per wing (to compensate for the absence of a tail) as well as two sets of large apertures on each side of the nose. These are likely to be for both electro-optical sensors and side-looking radars, with the latter significantly extending radar coverage beyond the usual front-mounted radar array.
At this stage it is unclear whether the new aircraft is just a demonstrator, although if it has, indeed, been designated as the J-36, then that would suggest that it constitutes a full-on sixth-generation fighter programme.
As if to significantly disturb the Christmas holidays of Western aviation analysts, footage also appeared on 26 December of a smaller tailless combat aircraft, apparently from the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC). This aircraft has a swept-wing design and twin engines, but a lack of detailed still or video imagery have so far not allowed analysts to determine whether this smaller tailless aircraft is a manned platform.
